Trailer Trash

I have a trailer.  A 10 x 14 foot tandem axle with electric brakes trailer.  Some mode of transportation is required to haul antiques whether its to a show, for delivery purposes or picking up from your favorite auction.  I hate trailers.  Actually, I hate pulling a trailer.  Oh, I can do it, back it up and turn it around and all those unnatural things you have to learn when pulling a trailer, like always turn the wheel in the opposite direction of that in which you want to go. Trailers scare me.  A passing semi-truck will take control of your trailer, pulling you close with sometimes only inches.  You can't just hit the brakes and stop when you're pulling a trailer.  Well, you can, but then you're going one way and the trailer is going another.  When that happens, its generally called a jack knife and is usually caused by the idiot who while talking on the phone realizes that he wants to make an immediate right turn from the left lane, needs to cut in front of you and slam on the brakes all at the same time.

Are you superstitious?  Do you believe in signs? 

Several months ago I headed to Atlanta on Wednesday morning for the Scott's Show pulling the dreaded trailer.  Everything seemed fine and 4 1/2 hours later, I pulled up at the show. I usually drop off my trailer the day before the show as they do not allow me to park the trailer in the condominium complex.  The trailer did not want to come off the hitch.  It was freezing cold and I turned and turned until it just would not turn anymore.  I finally managed to inch the truck away, breathed a sigh of relief and pulled away.  Six am the next morning, pitch black and sleeting rain and I'm ready to hitch the trailer back up and pull into the building for my allotted set up time.  The hitch will not lower.  It will only spin and spin and spin.  Rushing into the building, I find a friend who is almost finished unloading her large box truck, borrow said truck and begin frantically unloading everything from the trailer onto the truck - in the dark, sleeting rain.



Next month, the trailer has been fixed and I'm off again to Atlanta.  There is a crazy merging of lanes combination exit from I-95 to I-16 in Macon.  The forecast was for severe weather and I was trying to beat the weather.  Part way through the exit people began honking and pointing at me.  I immediately pulled over and found this:

No tire. Nothing but a nub and the nice gentleman who stopped to help told me where I could find it, the tire that is, if I wanted  to go back for it.  I think not!  After helping me find a place to repair and following me safely there, I got out of the truck just as the heavens opened up.  They couldn't fix it right away, it would take a day or two.  So, I rented the largest trailer I could and proceeded to once again unload the trailer onto another one - in the pouring rain and finally, 11 hours later, reached Atlanta.

Next  month, I'm headed to Texas for the Marburger Show. I arrived in Atlanta with no problems and headed out with plans to drive half way, meet my son in New Orleans and had dinner reservations for 8 at Delmonicos.  An hour later, a horrific noise and this:

That is what is left of the only remaining chain and as you can see, the trailer is no longer attached to the truck! One's worst nightmare when pulling a truck happened.  Slight bump, just the right conditions and the whole thing comes off, going 75mph in the middle lane on the interstate!

And finally, miracously, we manage to bring it to a stop on the side of the road.

It is not as easy as one would assume to have a loaded trailer towed. 

And yes, those are the tires hanging off the back!  The opposite side is hanging off the front.  It seems the trailer is too wide to sit properly positioned on the ramp.  They have to raise and hook it by the axles.

Following the tow truck  and bouncing trailer filled with antiques down I-85 outide of Atlanta.

 However, after numerous calls for not only an able tow truck, but an available 22' rental truck, we followed the tow truck to Big John's Used Car Lot / Pawn Shop / Penske Truck Rental where we now had to - you guessed it - unload the trailer once again onto the rental truck.

Now I do believe in signs.  And 3 very large signs were telling me, no they were screaming and beating me on the head - DO NOT PULL A TRAILER.  Three, as in 3 strikes.  So, I'm out.  I no longer pull a trailer.  I am done, finished, no more.  Now I get someone else to do it for me.

What's your mode of transportation?

Salut!

Lynn

A Little Help from our Friends

Scott's Antique Market in Atlanta is next week and I'm beginning to think about what inventory I want to take, the set up and design of my booth, props needed and the other countless details involved. A tremendous amount of work goes into setting up at a show and it requires a lot of help  All the help we can get.  A few of my favorite "helpers" spied at past shows...

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Hope to see you there!

Salut!
Lynn



Truckin' in Provence

If you're gonna shop for antiques in Europe, then you've got to have the right transportation to pick them up and haul them around.  I rent, depending on my needs at the time, either a high top utility van or the largest truck you can rent without a commercial drivers license in France. Both only come in a manual drive, 6 speed.

Now if you have ever rented a car and driven through the small villages of  southern France, you understand why most people own a VERY small car.  The streets are not two lane. They are supposed to be, but they lie.  They are tiny, squeak through, hold your breath, very tight roads. Throw in a small SUV and one of you will be on the sidewalk dodging fast walking, hell bent elderly ladies carrying the days provisions home.  Want to watch grown men's eyes become big as saucers, put a middle aged blond behind the wheel of a large truck careening heading straight towards you.

The height of your chosen vehicle is very important and it behooves you to keep it in mind at all times.  There are many, and I mean many old bridges scattered throughout said villages all over the French countryside. You can count on the fact that chances are said truck is not going to fit under them. This begs the question of what do you do in the event your truck is probably/absolutely not going to fit and you are on one of those "this is definitely not a two lane" road?  Reverse, but remember you are in a LARGE truck with this huge container thing located directly behind your seat which renders your rear view mirror absolutely useless.  The side mirrors will become your best friends.  Consider them more priceless than diamonds, because you can NOT function without them.  Well, I guess you could, but the results would not be pretty.

Now, if you've ever spent much time in the south of France, you know that they have mountains.  I have spent a LOT of time trying to avoid going through the mountains.  Why, you ask?  Well, the French who consider a drive around the hair pins turns to be their own personal competition with the Italian drivers around their same said mountains, tend to consider they own the road.  The whole road.  In a truck (remember the fake 2 lane village streets  )it takes up the whole road and just to keep things interesting, there are drop offs around these curves. Sheer, rock falling, drop offs. And did I mention, no fencing. Nada, nothing to keep you from plunging off. Nada, nothing.  Also, I have vertigo.  This means that when I get high up, say a tall bridge or for instance, a sheer drop off on a mountain road, that I lose all sense of balance and feel like I'm falling and completely nauseous?

Being an antique dealer is not for the faint of heart. Oh, and by the way, I can back up said truck and park it with 6 inches to spare on each side. I am woman, 50 something blond to boot - hear me roar!

Salut!
Lynn